The Mushroom Kingdom: Apocalypse
by star-wolf95
Summary: Bowser, sick of being defeated by the Mario Bros, unleashes a deadly virus that transforms normal people into monstrous zombies. When the zombies turn against him and the Mushroom Kingdom, can Bowser, Mario, and others work together to survive?
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

**This is my first story…hope you all enjoy!**

**Thanks in advance to my friends who reviewed this and made suggestions.**

**Mario characters, the Mushroom Kingdom, etc. do NOT belong to me, but this story does.**

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Chapter 1: Prologue

"Ugh!", Bowser cried out in pain. The burns from his last battle with the Mario Bros were causing him great agony.

"I'm so sick of getting my butt kicked by those stupid plumbers!", Bowser complained As the Koopa King took a seat on his royal throne, his partner in crime Kamek the koopa arrived. Worried for his friend, Kamek questioned "Your majesty, may I say something?"

"Make it quick", Bowser replied, snarling.

"I suggest we try a different tactic", Kamek stated. Confused, Bowser asked "What do you mean by that?", while tapping his claws on the thrones armrest.

"Well, I had a project that I was working on, but you probably wouldn't be interested…" Kamek stated nervously. "I guess I could take a peek at it. Anything that could help me take over the Mushroom Kingdom" Bowser said hesitantly.

"Oh, it will" Kamek said, a devilish smirk on his face.

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"_Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee…_", the rusty door squeaked as Kamek and Bowser entered Kamek's secret science lab. The lab was all white, with rats that appeared to be deformed…

"Where did you get the funding for all this?" Bowser questioned.

"Oh, none of this was funded. I bought all of this equipment with my own money", stated Kamek.

"Where'd you get all that money?"

"There's some things you shouldn't know about, sir…"

Bowser decided not to pry any further, and the two of them continued walking through the laboratory. The rats in the cages started to act up, their eyes glowing red while they foamed at the mouth. "What's going with these rats…" Bowser questioned.

"Ah, those are my test subjects" Kamek stated while looking at some beakers.

"Test subjects for what, exactly?" Bowser asked Kamek.

"For my new virus of course!", exclaimed Kamek. "What does this virus do?" asked Bowser as he watched the infected rats claw furiously at their cages.

"Well, the virus takes over the host and controls their thoughts and movements", Kamek explained, " so they are completely under our control, and they must do as we command them to do!"

"This all sounds good", Bowser stated, "but can the virus be controlled? It won't turn against us?"

"Of course!", Kamek shouted, "with this new virus, the Mushroom Kingdom shall face a new threat the likes of which the world has never seen before!"

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Thanks for reading the first chapter of my first story, hopefully there'll be many more to come! Please review, and be gentle with the criticism please. Stay tuned for a new chapter soon, where the action heats up!


	2. Chapter 2

**Here's chapter 2, hope you all enjoy.**

**Mario characters, places, etc. do NOT belong to me.**

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Chapter 2: The Beginning

Their shoes clacked against the floor and the Mario Bros and Peach traveled down the long hallway.

"What is it you wanted to show us?" Mario questioned, looking around curiously.

"Just keep following" Peach replied, turning left to enter another hallway. Today was a weird day so far, with strange smoke showing up over Bowser's Castle, and then Peach offering to show the Mario Bros a secret room in the castle. He hoped she'd hurry along, as they had a Kart race to go to soon.

"Right this way" Peach stated, and she opened a door. The Brothers were surprised to see that behind the door was an elevator. "Where does this lead?" asked Luigi, but Peach simply replied "You'll see"

They all crowded into the elevator and Peach pushed a button, taking them deep underground. After a moment's wait, the doors open…and the Brothers got the shock of their life.

It was a room., with walls made from steel. That was not the surprise, however. The surprise, was that the room was COMPLETELY filled with weapons of all sorts. RPGs, AKs, grenades as far as the eye could see.

"I…I haven't seen anything like this in my life", Mario said while in a daze. "Why is this all here?" Luigi asked absentmindedly.

"Well…" Peach began, "You see, a long time before you two arrived, weapons were abundant in the kingdom. Crime and murder was high, and the kingdom was miserable. One day, we managed to pass a law banning all guns across the land…however, we kept some in the case that one day something awful arrived, and we'd have the firepower to fight back."

"But why did you decide to show us today?", Mario stated while trying to take in all this information.

"I don't know…", Peach replied, "But all day I've felt something's…wrong. Something's not right in the kingdom…I suppose I figured you two should know of this in the case that we might just need them…"

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_Meanwhile, back at Bowser's castle…_

Bowser had promised some of his minions extra pay if they'd let Kamek test his new virus on them (Of course, he'd told the minions they were being given experimental medicine…)

Bowser had let a few goombas, some koopas, bob-ombs, and other assorted minions into a room. After locking the minions in, the Koopa King retreated to a control room nearby where he met Kamek within.

"Ready to test this thing?" Bowser asked Kamek, who was flipping switches and pulling levers. "Of course, your nastiness" Kamek said.

After a few minutes of preparation, Kamek announced the virus was ready to be sprayed through the air duct into the room that minions were locked in. Kamek had explained to Bowser earlier that the virus would only affect through the air if it was used in high doses, but could only be exchanged through saliva while the virus was inside the host body, so neither was worried that they'd be infected since they would be controlling the zombies and the virus in the air wouldn't be enough to infect them.

"Let's do this!" Bowser exclaimed, pushing Kamek aside so he could pull the final lever that would release the virus upon his unsuspecting minions.

Bowser and Kamek cackled while they watched through a one way window and waited to see the results.

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"So, what's up?" a goomba asked the koopa next to him. Since being locked in this room, there wasn't really much to do except talk with other minions.

"Nothing…you know what Bowser's supposed to be testing?" the koopa replied, trying to be heard over the chatter of other minions.

"I heard he's trying a new medicine on us…it's supposed to make us stronger and heal our wounds fast.", the goomba replied, "if it works we might have what we need to finally crush those pesky plumbers!"

"Alright!" the koopa shouted, drawing unwanted attention. "Uh, sorry."

"Even if it doesn't work, we're getting extra pay!" the goomba said happily.

"Yep, it's a win-win situation!" the koopa chirped, "there's no way this can go wro- wait, did you hear that?"

Kchk…

"Who opened the vent?" the goomba asked loudly, recognizing the sound of the vent opening.

But before he could get a response, a strange white gas started to fill the room. The minions panicked, scratching at the door trying to escape, but it was all in vain. Within seconds, every minion had collapsed…dead.

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Kamek sweated nervously. "Uh, sir?" he asked cautiously, hoping his boss wasn't about to throttle him.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?" Bowser roared furiously, "YOUR STUPID 'VIRUS' JUST KILLED INNOCENTS, AND IF THAT ISN'T ENOUGH I JUST LOST A DECENT AMOUNT OF MY MINIONS!"

He was just about to strangle Kamek, when he noticed something moving within the room. "Whuh?"

Within the room, the minions were starting to stand up again.

"They survived!" Bowser declared happily, "Now I don't have to think of an excuse to tell the others in their squadrons why they've disappeared!

But something was wrong…the minions should have been panicking, considering they'd just be gassed with a weird substance and lied to by their boss. But they were…quiet. They stood there, and they appeared to have their skin grayed. None were talking, and their eyes…their eyes seemed to glow a little red.

"Um…this is a little weird" Bowser said nervously. "I think I'll go check on them…" he stated before leaving the control room and walking down to the room the minions were locked in.

He unlocked the door and opened it just a bit, peeking in to see what his minions were doing. Big mistake.

The door made a rather large squeak, and every minion in the room quickly turned and stared at the door. Their stares creeped out Bowser…their stares made them look hungry.

'You guys okay?", Bowser said quietly. Then all hell broke loose.

The minions started moaning, and limping towards the door. Bowser was tempted to roast them right then and there, but he remembered he could control these minions now.

"Halt!" he commanded. The command was ignored, as the infected minions continued to limp towards him.

"…Uh, please?" he begged, but they continued approaching. When they were right next to the door, he panicked and fled back to the control room.

"KAMEK!" he shouted, bursting into the room. "What is it sir?!" Kamek cried, startled by the sudden entrance.

"Your stupid virus worked, all right…but why can't we control those…those things?"

Kamek sweated a little more and nervously stated "Sir, the virus doesn't seem to have gone as planned…it seems your minions are now, uh…"

"Uh, what?"

"Uh…zombies, sir."

"ZOMBIES?" Bowser roared, "You mean my loyal minions have become brain hungry zombies?!?!"

Kamek cowered and scooted away from Bowser. "Tha…tha…that's correct s-s-sir." He stammered.

Bowser was about to beat Kamek within an inch of his life, when the door behind him slowly opened.

"Uh, sir" Kamek said worriedly, "you did remember to close the doors behind you, right?"

"…Oh crap."

The door opened fully and zombies started to pour into the room, cornering the Koopa King and his assistant.

"WHAT DO WE DO?" Kamek cried out, covering his eyes so he wouldn't have to see what was about to happen.

But Bowser had thought of something, he quickly turned around and punched a large hole in the wall of the room, and ran through it. "I'm not letting these things get me!" he shouted as he charged towards the nearest exit.

Kamek was about to run after him, but it was too late. The zombies grabbed onto his robe…he was caught.

Bowser continued to run on, not knowing that behind him his second in command was being turned into one of the flesh crazed beasts.

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_Back at the Castle…_

"Well, that was…interesting, Peach" Mario said nervously as they walked to the Kart racing track.

"I'm sorry you found out so suddenly, but like I told you…something just doesn't feel right today." Peach said matter-of-factly.

"So just because you had a feeling of dread, you decided to show us possibly the biggest secret in this whole kingdom?" Luigi questioned rather aggressively.

Peach could see the brothers didn't want to be arguing right now, not with their big race coming up, so she was quieted for the rest of the trip.

_At the race track…_

Peach had taken a seat in the stands, close to the track. The Marios Bros were preparing their kart for their big race against Donkey Kong and Diddy.

Soon, it was time for the race to begin. The track was the Mario circuit, and the brothers were ready to win.

The race started, the crowd cheered, and the racers were off. The first lap went along fine, with Donkey Kong and Diddy barely in the lead.

The second lap was a little hectic, with bananas all along the track. By the end of this lap, however, the Mario Bros were in the lead.

The third lap was going fine…but then everything went downhill.

The lap had just begun when someone in the stands had noticed Bowser running towards the track. "Watch out, Bowser's coming to ruin the race!" the spectator shouted.

All heads turned towards Bowser, and the Mario Bros got out of their car, ready to fight.

But instead of attacking, Bowser collapsed at Mario's feet. "What do you want?" Mario asked rather angrily, "Can't you see we're in a race?"

Bowser tried to catch his breath, and told his story fast.

"My stupid…*wheeze* second in command Kamek made a virus that was designed to make our minions… cough… do exactly as we say, and we were going to finally beat you, but…wheeze… something went horribly wrong…the virus has made them into…ZOMBIES!!!" he shouted rather loudly.

"…that is possibly the worst lie I've ever heard." Mario stated, "Please just leave, we want to finish this race if you don't mi-"

He never got to finish that sentence. The same spectator from earlier had spotted something else coming downhill…a large crowd. "He's brought an army!" he shouted again.

The Bros were rather angry that Bowser had interfered with their race, but when they noticed that the 'army' was gray-skinned, red-eyed, and moaning eerily, the brothers realized he wasn't lieing.

Panic gripped everyone there, and they all started to flee to the castle. Bowser ran along with them, trying not to look back, but when he accidentally looked back he saw Kamek leading the zombie charge.

People crowded the castle. Peach, the brothers, Bowser, Toadsworth, and assorted toads had managed to make it in. Some other toads weren't so lucky…the crunching of bones and the tearing sounds outside assured the survivors that.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?" Mario shouted angrily at Bowser, who was sitting in the corner, shaking.

The zombies started beating at the door. By the end of the day their sheer force would be able to break through the solid wood, and no one would survive. The survivors would have to think of a plan to escape…and fast.

Peach quickly thought up a plan. "Quick, everybody!" she called, "follow me!"

She began to lead everyone towards the secret room she had showed the brothers earlier…

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Thanks for reading the second chapter of my first story. MAJOR thanks go to my friend BurningFox6, who helped me come up with a lot of this. He's just recently also made an account here, so expect to see some stories from him soon as well.

**Please review, and feel free to give some advice.**


	3. Chapter 3

Hey guys. Sorry I haven't been updating in awhile, but I've decided to give it another shot.

The crowd was an unruly mess. Those who weren't outright flipping out were either wimpering loudly or being painfully silent. There were no differences here, koopas and goombas mingled with toads and bob-ombs. The only person alone in the chamber was the Koopa King himself, a pariah among the survivors for what he'd done. Bowser sat away from the crowd, seemingly deep in thought.

The survivors had quickly retreated to the weapon storage after reinforcing the castle door as much as possible. As expected, the toads and other townspeople were awed at the giant weapon room that had been kept hidden from them for so long. The princess had disappeared to a back room before questions could start flying.

Mario surveyed the crowd. He estimated there were around 20 survivors that had made it into the castle, not including those who had fled into their homes or the nearby forest. Of the 20, there were 11 toads (Toadsworth included), 3 koopas, 4 goombas, and 2 bob-ombs that appeared to be brother and sister. Lakitus weren't present, since those at the race had either flew away or were taken by surprise. After passing a scornful look over the reclusive Bowser, Mario turned to his brother. "Where'd the princess go?"

Luigi grimaced, not taking things as well as Mario. "I-I don't-a know…" he muttered, clenching and unclenching his fist as if wishing his trusty vacuum were there. Mario turned back and went back to his thoughts. Minutes passed that felt like hours as the zombies pounded the door upstairs, their moans echoing down into the chamber. Soon, Peach walked into the room, her pink dress brushing along the floor as she hurried into the room with an old-time projector.

She set it up at the side of the room. Once it was all ready, she whistled and got everyone's attention, even the forlorn Koopa King. She ripped her dress off, driving the crowd to a collective gasp, revealing a set of camo pants and a tank top underneath. She quickly put her hair into a ponytail and began talking.

"Citizens of the Mushroom Kingdom…and other company…this has now become a struggle for survival. Not everyone here will survive, but we WILL survive this. And it will be thanks to all this," She said, sweeping her arm across the room, "the remnants of the last Mushroom Kingdom Massacre."

The Mario Brothers seemed confused. Peach turned to them. "I'm sorry I lied to you…but if you had known the real reason then you wouldn't have been able to handle it. But what I tell you all now is the pure truth."

Everybody in the crowd was either too scared to speak or too confused. Peach went on. "Centuries ago, a similar outbreak happened. One of our own great scientist toads, Sir Fungino, accidentally created a virus close to what's affecting those outside the castle doors while working to create the perfect mushroom. While it was less potent than what we saw today, it had the same effect…it turned those exposed to it into zombies. Yes, the ones we knew and loved have become zombies.

It took time, but we eventually managed to wipe the zombies off the face of the planet. Since that day we've kept this room, both as a testament to that day we've tried to keep hidden for so long and as a defense against the same situation should we have the misfortune for it to happen again. And now it's happened again, and from what I've seen the virus is more potent than ever, thanks to the efforts of a certain King." All eyes turned to Bowser briefly, who ducked a little into his shell. Peach stepped up to the projector and flipped it on, letting the light touch a blank wall. "This video was made by an old toad scholar…Toadsworths grandfather, to be exact." she said, nodding in his direction. "As soon as the first zombie breakout was defeated, we had some of the most valuable survivors write down all they had observed in journals that we had all the descendants of the Mushroom Throne study. When image capturing first came out we had the information moved into film, to save time. As princess, I have spent a long time studying this video to be ready in case another outbreak occurred. Now, I show it to you. Pay attention…the information in it will save your life."

Peach flipped a switch and the machined hummed to life, making an image flicker to life on the wall. It was an old toad, older than Toadsworth even, who gave an unhappy sigh upon seeing his ancestor. The toad in the video looked quite like him, but he had a beard in addition to the mustache. His eyebrows were so bushy it made the scholar look as if his eyes were closed. He wore a lab coat and seemed to be reclining in a luxurious chair seated next to a projector screen and a fireplace.

The old toad turned to the camera. "Good evening. If the monarchy is watching, welcome back, and thank you for holding dear the knowledge that will protect our fine kingdom. If you are the townspeople…then pay close attention to what I say, for you are in a dire situation to be shown this video. This information will save your lives and the lives of those you care about. Let us start with the basics…

Hopefully, the person showing you the video has already explained exactly what is going on. You have nothing to fear of randomly catching the virus. The disease is not airborne, not unless it is concentrated into a gas and taken in in a very large dose. No, it can only be spread through the bites of an infected individual. Scratches will not affect you, but getting zombie spit in the wounds WILL INFECT YOU. The zombie itself, however, is a durable creature. They can be killed by normal wounds, but only if the wounds are extreme. For the most effectiveness, you need to either aim for the head…an instant kill, as the virus manifests in the brain…or aim for the legs and arms, to immobilize the zed or keep it from clawing you. Hopefully the weapon room is still standing, so you shall be plentifully supplied. The best weapon you have, however, is teamwork. STICK TOGETHER. Now let us cover some things you might see…"

The toad got up and went off-screen, where he could be heard tinkering with something. After a moment the projector screen lit up. "There's a projector in the projector?" a younger toad questioned, bringing about a nervous round of giggles from the other survivors. The old toad on screen got back into his seat as the projector screen lit up with the picture of a toad.

The toad was a drawn picture, very well drawn, but calling it a toad was generous. It had searing red eyes, its clothes torn to shreds and barely clinging on. The mushroom on its head had rotted a little, turning a light shade of purple. "One of the most basic types of zombies," the scholar started, "our own townspeople. The virus has been known to create some…unusual traits in its victims, but toads seem to take the virus well enough to be zombies, nothing more. Toad zed have nothing special to look for. Just aim for the head."

The screen changed to a downtrodden looking goomba, with glaring red eyes and its teeth capped with blood. It had deep gashes all around its body and half its left foot was missing. "Goombas are also a garden variety zombie. The only concern you should worry about is their size, which might make it harder for a headshot. They cannot scratch, however."

A koopa appeared on the screen. It's shell had turned a sickly blue with patches of rot around it, and the koopa itself was light green. The red eyes seemed even more pronounced. "Koopas are where the challenge begins. Their shells have rotted a bit so damaging the shell enough will destroy it and open them up to attack from the back. However, it's more convenient to just attack from the front. But if you find one in its shell, watch out, for it can reach insane speeds when in motion, sticking its head out for a quick bite when it reaches you."

The picture changed to show a lakitu and a bob-omb. The lakitu was green, its glasses were cracked, and the cloud it usually rode had a very sinister face and a sickly violet color. The bob-omb had become green and rusty, with its boots torn and its eyes vacant. "Now we enter more dangerous territory. Lakitus and bob-ombs are not very common zombies, thanks to the lakitus flight and the bob-ombs being too hard to bite, thanks to their metal body structure. However, a bob-omb can still be bit on the feet, and not all lakitus are lucky enough to fly off in time. Lakitus will attack from above, but thankfully they've lost their spiny companions. Bob-ombs are VERY dangerous…their metal coating makes them hard to damage, and when defeated their natural instinct to explode will kick in. The blast will, instead of the usual collateral damage, release a shower of liquidated virus. The virus is harmless if it doesn't get in wounds or if it isn't ingested, but it should be much more preferable to just stay out of range."

Next up was a chain chomp, a thwomp, and a whomp. They all looked normal. "Due to their rocky structure, these organisms are immune to the virus. Chain chomps are 100% safe, with their tough metal exterior. During very risky times a chomp could even be domesticated for defense or to be used as a mount. They're still pretty feral, so be careful. The other two, however, are not fully immune. They won't become infected from bites, but eventually their rocky exterior will succumb to repeated bites. They will not be zombies, but they will slowly start to lose their minds. Beware any of the two later groups, as they will crush first and ask later."

"Next up is the aquatic life." The slide switched to show a cheep-cheep with ragged fins and glowing blue eyes swimming next to blooper that seemed to be missing half of its tentacles…as well as half its head. "Hopefully you'll never have to take an underwater detour. However, infected cheep cheeps can survive on land for long periods of time, due to the disease slowing down body functions, therefore limiting the need for oxygen. They are swift underwater, and are more than willing to burst from the waves when you least expect it and attack. Bloopers on the other hand can't leave the water, they can't reach the speed needed to get enough lift out of the water. If you're unlucky enough to find one in its element, however, watch for the blinding spray it likes to fire before it attempts to choke you with its arms. Now…the last thing to watch out for."

The slide to a blank page. The crowd leaned forward to see if it was simply too tiny to see, until the professor continued. "This last one has, fortunately, never been seen. But from what my elders have stated, there always exists one koopa that rules above the rest. The Koopa King of the last infection, named Behom, managed to avoid the disease entirely. However, scientists predict that if he had been bitten, we would surely all be doomed. A koopa king is powerful enough…hefty and strong, with a currently unexplained ability to breathe fire. Give that power to an undead, unfeeling creature, and you have an unstoppable army of one. Koopa culture dictates that there is always a king, so should the infection happen it's most likely that there will be one around. Protect them at all costs, if not to keep a fellow kingdom citizen from a terrible fate, then to keep the kingdom from crumbling."

People glanced at Bowser, who was deep in thought. "How do they know my grand-granddad? Behom has been gone for centuries." he muttered to himself. The screen seemed to shake, drawing everyone's attention back to the front. "That concludes the most important part of the presentation…and the second to last, seeing as this blasted contraption is running low on film. To conclude, teamwork is important to survival. Avoid cities, as they're no doubt drowning in zed. Gather your food, your weapons, and get out. And most importantly…-"

_Click_

The film chose that moment to run out, forever obscuring the toad's final advice. The princess cleared her throat and took the stage again. "You heard the man. Let's get these distributed and get on the road, the sooner we leave the better. There's a tunnel here leading to somewhere near the outskirts of the city, but we won't be out just yet. We didn't get the chance to investigate the kitchen, but fortunately we have a small supply of rations down here. Now, come up here and help me hand out supplies," she said, pointing to each in turn, "Mario…Luigi…and Bowser. You're now a number one priority."


End file.
